SoCalHoops High School News

Crossroads Takes Seventh
At Iolani Classic--(Dec. 22, 2000)

We were wrong. . . much to our chagrin and embarrasment, we were wrong when someone asked us on Monday or Tuesday if we knew where the Iolani Classic website had gone to and we responded by saying that we thought there was no site for the Iolani Classic this year.   Bad, bad, bad.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.   Not only did "Susan" once again host the Iolani site this year (we don't know who "Susan" is, but all the notes and stats and stuff on the site appear to have been written by her, and it's great stuff), but the site is better than it was last year.   Really, check it out and you'll see.

The annual Iolani Classic ran from Dec. 18-22, and featured   some of the top teams from around the country, including USA Today preseason No. 4, Montrose Christian (Md.) and California's Division I CIF defending state champion De La Salle. Other teams include Roman Catholic (Philadelphia), Miami Northwestern, Santa Monica Crossroads and Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda, Calif.). 

In total there are about three or four basic sources of information for finding out what's happening at this tournament.  The first, and best, is the Iolani Classic website itself (link above), a wonderfully produced site with full stats, pictures and game photos. It's the best. . . Then there's the Rivals.com "Hawaii Sports Network" site which has some game info, a message board, the usual stuff found at most of the Rivals.com sites.  Nice, basic, adequate.  Then there are also the two Hawaii dailies, the Honolulu Advertiser (not what it sounds like, it really is a newspaper), and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.  Both of these have some info, but nothing is as good as the official Iolani Classic site and Susan's notes. (and if you don't believe us, just check the "Archives" on that site, and read any of her articles about any of the games. . . great stuff..

Since there was only one SoCal-based team in the Classic this year, we thought we'd put together a compendium of notes, pictures and stuff solely devoted to following the comings, goings and yes, even the antics of the Crossroads Roadrunners and their animated coach, Darryl Roper.  Here's what that wacky Mr. Roper and his boys have been up to for the past week.

Monday--December 18, 2000
First Round

Crossroads 64, Maryknoll 44--Crossroads moved on to the winner's side of the bracket, and in this 16 team tournament, that meant Crossroads advanced to the quarterfinals. Jordan Rush and Anthony Locke scored five points each in a 22-5 third-quarter run as Crossroads beat up on a smller, younger team.  Crossroads shot 15-28 from the line and basically dominated the game from start to finish. With Isaiah Fox (6'-9" Sr. PF), and a number of other guys at 6'-5" or 6'-4", Crossroads seemingly towered over the Spartans, whose tallest players are McShane Dator and Kamalani Rapoza, both listed at 6'-3".   Maryknoll started out slow, trailing 12-2, and just couldn't hang with the Roadrunners until the second quarter when Crossroads . Roadrunners went cold from the field in the second quarter, with 6-foot-9 senior Isaiah Fox missing consistently inside 12 feet, and Maryknoll rallied. Freshman sub Ryan Hirata hit a 25-foot trey to spark a nice run by the Spartans. Maryknoll cut the lead to 23-19 shortly before intermission.Fox led Crossroads with 13 points, making 3-of-8 free-throw attempts. Joe Abrahams (6'-3" Jr. SG) added 11 and Jordan Rush (6'-6" Jr. SF/SG)  had 9. Russell Sypowicz led Maryknoll with 14 points. Hirata finished with 10.

The following notes, much more insightful, were written by Susan, who maintains the Iolani Classic website, and who inputs all the stats from courtside and takes the pics which appear on the Iolani Classic website.  Here's what she had to say about the Roadrunner's first game:

"Game Notes by: Susan
Maryknoll kept it close in the first half, but Crossroads big height advantage took its toll on Maryknoll's shorter players. In the first half, Crossroads didn't take advantage of their inside height (Isaiah Fox missed easy layups). Crossroads has nice transitions on fast breaks. #3 (Ryan Hirata) of Maryknoll had a nice shooting touch from 3-point land. Fox had a hard time shooting free-throws, similar to that of Shaq. Maryknoll did not play a clean 2nd half."

The win put Crossroads against Miami Northwestern (which wound up second in the Florida State Championships last year) in a quarterfinals game on Wednesday.

The complete scoring from Monday's four games were as follows:

Tuesday, December 19, 2000

Crossroads got a bye from action, along with a number of other teams.  Again, there were only 4 games played on Tuesday, and they didn't get started until 3:30 p.m., allowing everyone plenty of time to sleep or just relax and have fun around the island. Here's what happened on Tuesday:

Wednesday, December 20, 2000
Games

Northwestern 68, Crossroads 65--On Wednesday in the quarterfinals, Isaiah Fox scored 30 but Miami Northwestern still managed to pull out the win, and Winsome Frazier did it to the Roadrunners repeatedly scoring and blocking some key shots by Crossroads at the end of the game.  Frazier finished with 17 points, and stuffed Jordan Rush's critical three-point attempt with four seconds remaining to give Northwestern the win and put them in the semifinals. The block was critical: With the score at 68-65 with 14 secondxs remaining, Rush got the ball after a series which had Crossroads pulling to within 2 following Isaiah Fox's layup and a 3 pointer by Nick Forman. So with 14 seconds remaining, Jason Alvin was fouled, went to the line and hit one of two to make it 68-65. Jordan got the ball, set for the shot, and Frazier came charging out of the key and literally swatted the shot to half court, securing the win.  Ok, so that was the basic commentary but here's what Susan had at the official site:

Game Notes by: Susan
"The pressure got to the Crossroads Roadrunners. If they were to ever look back on their game and regret things they did, free throws has to be one of them. They lost their free throws, making just 15/30; Isaiah Fox of Crossroads only made 6/12. Three more free throws and the game would've been tied. Coaches always stress free throws. If you can't make free throws, you don't deserve to win, as was the case with Crossroads. Northwestern, on the other hand, had an early 18-13 lead at the end of the first half due to their aggressive start. A talented star, Winsome Frazier opened with a layup and continued on a scoring rampage in the game with 3-3's and 4-2's ending with 17 points. Crossroads' Joe Abrahams, who had an excellent game against Maryknoll, couldn't get into his rhythm. He missed an open 3-pointer and had a layup blocked early in the game. Abrahams was shaken after that and could only muster 2 points. Northwestern's full-court press worked effectively against Crossroads' taller, slower players. A full court press can never work if players are slow. The tallest players on Northwestern are only 6'5. Their sensational point guard, Joel Brown, is only 5'9. Northwestern is an extremely quick team that relies on penetration, outside shooting, and aggressive full court trapping and defense to win. Against a slower team such as Crossroads, Northwestern's speed was lethal. However, their height deficiency led to an uneven matchup against Crossroads' star center, Isaiah Fox, and led to 30 points for the future Arizona Wildcat. It's always fun for Hawaii fans to watch the mainland coaches, because of their animation during the game. The Crossroads' coach, Daryl Roper, was extremely loud and showed his players no mercy. Every mistake you make will be pointed out by him. The Northwestern coach, Baronton Terry, on the other hand, does a lot of on-site coaching. He'll set up plays as the game is going on, directing each player. His interesting strategy worked, confusing Crossroads' defensive setup. The game was extremely close the entire game. With 1:58 left in the half, the score was Northwestern 25-24. Joel Brown hit an up and under layup with 1:36 left in half and Northwestern led 31-28 at halftime. Crossroads' Jordan Rush hit 2 free throws with 16 seconds left in the half to give Crossroads a 46-43 lead. However, Winsome Frazier's putback before the end of the 3rd quarter cut the lead to 46-45. The 4th quarter was intense. With a minute left, Crossroads found themselves down by 3. Nick Forman's 3-pointer with 27 seconds left cut the lead to 3. After missed free throws by Northwestern, Crossroads regained possession. The ball swung around to an open Jordan Rush, but out of nowhere, Northwestern's Winsome Frazier races over to block the ball, ending the game with a Northwestern victory. "

Here are the final stats for the game from the official site:

And here's what the entire scoring for the day looked like:

Thursday game 12/21/00

Iolani 53, Crossroads 49--Host Iolani held off Crossroads of Santa Monica, Calif., 53-49 behind 13 points by Bobby Webster and 12 by Derrick Low. The Raiders led 44-35 with five minutes remaining but they struggled attempting to break Crossroads’ full-court press and running their four-corners stall offense. The Road Runners went on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 46-44 with 3:03 remaining. With 5 seconds left and Iolani leading 51-49, Robert Mageo hit two free throws - his only points of the game - to seal the outcome.

Now here are Susan's notes from the official Iolani site:

Classic Notes by: Susan
"All the way from Kamoku St."
"Richard begins the game with 5 added points. Isaiah Fox dominated over Iolani; Iolani just couldn't keep up with him. Bobby Nash scored first 8 points for Iolani. Iolani's zone was very effective early in the game. Both Tyler and Joe missed their short J's. Bobby Nash's layups gave Iolani 8-7 lead. Crossroads' good screening allowed Nick Forman to open his wonderful 3 pointers. Iolani broke down Crossroads' press with inbound passes to Bronson, and bounce passes to Webster at middle. A 6-0 run ended the first half. 19-18 Iolani.  Fox didn't score until the second half. Webster scored the first 5 points for Iolani, getting into groove after misses in the 1st half. Fast break points: Bronson steal basket, Nash steal Bronson to low. Crossroads had a poor job of guarding inbounds passes. Fast breaks killedCrossroads. Travis made a jumper at the end of the quarter to put the score at 40-29.  Webster played a great game, but Tyler had a bad game, missing easy shots. Iolani was awesome at breaking down press, and made fast breaks. Iolani, however at times, could not get the inbounds. 

Friday, December 22, 2000

The result of the Thursday game put Crossroads into the Seventh Place game at 3:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. PST) against Kamehameha, and Crossroads won in a very low scoring game, 35-34. Here's what happened according to Susan at the Iolani Classic website.  Keep in mind there's a fair amount of editorializing and opinion in this description, but a lot of it is pretty insightful (and funny because for those of us who have watched coach Roper for all these years, it's pretty apt):

"Emotions and hostilities ran high in a game where both sides were equally split in the amount of fans present. Words reached the referees, scorekeepers, and even to the players. The Crossroads' coach, Daryl Roper, once again put on a coaching show. It was definitely amusing watching him go at the referees and his players alike. He is by far the most animated coach Hawaii has ever seen. He has produced players such as Austin Croshere and Baron Davis, who have gone onto the NBA and made names for themselves. However, his disciplinary strategies may be a little too harsh. His players have not gone out this entire time. The only thing they've done is sit in their rooms, play video games, and sleep. Discipline. When is so much too much? This entire game was extremely close, with Isaiah Fox getting off to a quick start in the first quarter, but silent after that. Fox has been a huge disappointment in this tournament. The future Arizona Wildcat under 1997 national championship winner coach Lute Olsen has shown his deficiency of skills. His big body slows him down and his hands are extremely hard for a center. The only reason he scores at all is because he is 6'10 and towers over everyone in this tournament. The Crossroads scoring was spread out. Even with his poor play, Fox still scored the team-high 10 points. Kamehameha's Kolo Kapanui went on a scoring rampage with 18 points. His stellar play kept the Warriors in the game, but it wasn't enough as Kamehameha held the ball for the last 1:10 in the game, but couldn't make their final shot. Coach Micah Kroeger stormed off the court in disgust as soon as the buzzer sounded, blatantly expressing how Kamehameha should have won. This game left the Crossroads parents some relief. Coach Daryl Roper won't be THAT mad now. At least they didn't finish 8th. Kamehameha's showing at this tournament has been beyond expectation. Coach Micah Kroeger has completely transformed this team from their offense last year into a much quicker and speedier team. Kroeger's influences are apparent, as Kamehameha again becomes a favorite to win the ILH championship, along with Iolani and Punahou. "

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